Saturday, April 1, 2017

INKTASTIC: ROBERT OSTER KHAKHI INK REVIEW

New ink brands are popping up around every corner it seems. Obviously that's a good thing because it shows more and more people are getting interested in fountain pens. Additionally something new and interesting to try is always exciting, so you won't hear me complain at all!

However, at first I am usually a bit hesitant to try out new ink brands. You don't know if the quality is good, there's no proof of long-term quality or how it affects your pens,... So it took me a while to explore what seems to be one of the most hyped ink brands of the moment: Robert Oster Signature ink. German store Papier&Stift offered to send me a few bottles to review, so of course I had to take the opportunity. One of the colors they sent is this: Robert Oster Khakhi.

The wide variety of colors seems predominantly a selection of bright, vivid colors, but it's the darker, more unique inks that I seem to be mostly interested in. Such as this khakhi green. It's a murky olive green/ochre yellow. Yes, I do realise green and yellow are two different colors, but this is definitely something in between, it's hard to describe if you don't see it in person (the pictures will give you an idea but it seems to be just a hint more yellow in person).

So far all Robert Oster inks I've been able to try seemed to behave very well, and they offer a few properties that I really enjoy in an ink.

Lamy Safari - medium nib

Lamy Safari - broad nib

Lamy Safari - 1.5mm stub nib

It's more than dark enough to be legible in finer nibs, but it shines in wider nibs, or even stubs. You can get a nice amount of crisp shading from it, no sheen though. It's a well-behaved ink with a moderate to wet flow and it plays well in all pens I've used it in so far. They also seem to be quite resistant to bleeding and feathering, but they are not waterproof

It has been a pretty pleasant first encounter with the Australian brand. Which shows from the amount of bottles I bought in the past few months (cough, quite a few...), I think it's safe to say that they have some pretty great inks.

Despite only being a relatively young brand, they already offer somewhere around 60 different colors, and I seem to constantly find new and unique shades that I like. Robert Oster Khakhi is an interesting one, with a rather strange color that is hard to define, but beautiful nonetheless. If you like more subtle, earthy inks, this is one to try out. Robert oster inks come in tall, slender plastic bottles that are easy to fill from. Prices are on the higher side, at 16.5 EUR (16USD) for a 50ml bottle, but they are worth it in my opinion.

Note: this product was sent to me by Papier & Stift, free of charge, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affilate links.